Reading Winx Club Season 6 for Filth

INTRO:

The sixth season of Winx Club invokes within me a primal rage. Released in 2014, the 10-year anniversary of the franchsie, season 6 was the second season to be co-produced between Rainbow S.r.L. and Nickelodeon. Though the girls had graduated from Alfea long ago in The Secret of the Lost Kingdom, season 5 attempted to quietly reset their ages to 16 and reinstate them at Alfea as perpetual students.

Part of this was to make it easier to come up with seasonal plots without having to worry about drastic changes, such as season 4 moving the girls to Earth once they’d become adults, but it was also done in a desire to lower the show’s target age demographic. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, but regardless, the quality of the show began to dip, and season 6 marked when the show had officially tripped down the stairs and fallen into the coffin that Rainbow had unknowingly constructed for itself.

Most of you probably know I rewrote all of season 5, and I know you’re all probably keen to see me release a rewrite of season 6 (I’m keenly aware given it keeps appearing in the comments of literally every video). Part of the reason it hasn’t been released is… well, in general I like to take as much time as I need on my projects. The last thing I wanna do on something I care about and enjoy is rush it out and, as a result, release a half-baked product that needed more time in the oven. And I also want to be able to work on my own time on my own schedule, so having some arbitrary deadline bothers me and hinders my creative process. I am of the belief that it is ready when it’s ready.

But even then, I’ve found every time I visit the outline for my season 6 rewrite, I tend to have trouble kick-starting it. I have solid ideas, but the details become muddy, and any plot I try to construct winds up evaporating when I decide it’s not good enough. Of course a big reason why is because I have other projects that need my attention, including a certain novel that I’m looking to release in the near future (Teasing a years-old book? Yes, yes I am). But another reason why is because the source material I have to work with… is fucking trash.

I still stand by my belief that seasons 5 and onwards each had interesting ideas that could’ve been taken in unique, compelling directions, and that includes 6. The problem is that while season 5 was solid enough for me to work within a clearer structure, from which grew organic themes, character arcs, and storylines, season 6 is essentially an abyss of despair. And snakes. Mean snakes.

I know the major character arcs I want to explore for Bloom, the Trix, and Selina, and my friend Cynzi, as well as several Patrons in my Discord server, have helped in discussions of potential ideas that definitely got the gears turning. Just in general it’s nice to see more people engaging with their creativity in fan works, as I generally consider my rewrites to be glorified fan fiction that I do largely for fun, and also because if I were to ever stop writing in any form, I would go insane… r.

But beyond that, the details grow foggy for a number of reasons. So I figured why not turn my agony into content for all of you to enjoy? Not to mention that I shade season 6 plenty in most of my videos anyway, and given people are more than happy to join in, making it its own video as a convenient way to explain, in detail, season 6 is misery incarnate seems to be the way to go.

I hope you all enjoy this, and I’m also hoping articulating my problems with this season will help me unstuck my creativity. I’m also looking forward to talking about how a show like Winx decayed over time, and why so many people consider season 6 to be the true beginning of the end. The point at which there was no turning back. And how, in so many ways, season 6 led us to the dumpster fires of season 8, and Fate: The Winx Saga.

So without further ado, let’s begin the roast.

POINTLESS FETCH QUESTS

The Legendarium is a mystical book that could conjure up all sorts of fantastical creatures from virtually any fairy tale you could imagine. And in a series like Winx Club, which has always been a blend of fantasy and science fiction, it is interesting to think of how its unique worlds might clash with the classical fantasy genre fairy tales are often steeped in. It also has this air of nostalgia, both in the idea of these timeless stories being told, as well as a reference to Bloom’s original idea of what fairies were back in season 1 before Stella shot it down with her scepter.

In practice, though, the Legendarium is nothing more than a convenient plot device for generic, boring, and uninspired monsters of the day. For the most part, these creatures are forgettable and easily pass for any number of other monsters the girls have already faced in previous seasons.

The waters are especially muddied by the fact the Legendarium is filled with fairy tales from both Earth and the Magical Universe. You would think it’d be from Earth, given Earth is the place that has more orthodox ideas of what constitutes fantasy, and it’s rich with all sorts of stories to pull from. That’s not to say hearing the fairy tales of the Magical Universe are irrelevant, as I’d actually love to hear more about that. But having them shoved into this book along with Earth legends just makes things even more confused.

But back to the monster of the day aspect, these creatures are often used for shallow, contrived conflict to pad the episode runtimes. The writers especially needed that given season 6 oscillates between having no plot whatsoever, or having an arbitrary fetch quest that means absolutely nothing. I’ve mentioned my grievances with episode 1 focusing on Daphne in my video ranking all the show’s premieres, so definitely go check that out in the cards if you haven’t already.

But episodes 2 through 6 honestly are equally uninteresting. If anything, at least episode 1 is self-contained in its pointlessness, but 2 through 6 drag out that torment. Episode 2 is rife with filler of the girls going back to school for the sixth damn time, being forced into boring uniforms to reinforce we are indeed 16 again, and having yet another party for… whatever reason.

No, I don’t have an issue with Faragonda being old as hell (Even though it does bring up questions of how long Magical Universe denizens live, and just how old Faragonda was when in the Company of Light, but I honestly stopped caring at season 5). My issue is that this season is filled with all kinds of celebrations and parties… for no reason? It feels like whenever the writers need to kill more time, they’ll just make the characters throw parties at random. That’s not even touching on the pixie thing, which… ooo, we’ll get there.

And we’ll also get into Selina’s introduction and character writing soon, but her choosing to attack Pixie Village feels so… why? She doesn’t seem to know the Winx will go defend it, and the fact Griffin allowed this to happen at all makes no sense. Then it gets even weirder with the Trix (Who for some reason are back in their original forms, okay then), kicking Griffin’s ass because Cloudtower must be conquered yet again for nostalgia bait, and then getting all dolled up for the New England witch reunion over in Salem.

After that, the episodes feel even more contrived with a random visit to Lynphea coinciding with a random attack by the Trix on Lynphea, followed by a random visit to some music college, and then a party where we throw all of Bloom’s responsibilities onto Daphne before throwing Bloom into a hell pit because we can’t think of anything else besides villainizing Diaspro.

There’s no rhyme of reason for anything that’s happened thus far. The Winx aren’t actively trying to stop the Trix as much as they’re just reacting to their attacks. At least, not until Daphne brings up the Legendarium, which… okay, yes, you’ve noticed a pattern of strange monsters attacking you, but what made Daphne think the Legendarium was the source? Y’all fight fantastical monsters all the time; what makes these ones any different?

And then we move onto… the fetch quests. Now for this part, I’m going to share the definition of a trope called a macguffin. A macguffin is some plot element, usually an object, sometimes a person, that is needed to advance the plot. Rather than the plot being advanced solely for character motivation or action, the macguffin can do that all by itself. And as such, it’s often abused by novice or lazy writers for cheap conflict and easy plot generation.

But macguffins can also be used incredibly well, especially when tied into themes and/or character arcs. For more information, I highly recommend Overly Sarcastic Production’s Trope Talk video all about macguffins, as well as Just Write’s video on How MacGuffins Can Ruin Movies.

Season 6 relies heavily on macguffins, and lazy ones at that. The first of which being the diary of Eldora, the fairy godmother who last held the Legendarium. First of all, y’all knew a fairy godmother had that book, but not Eldora specifically? How is that even possible? How would you know it was a fairy godmother who had the Legendarium, yet not know who she was? Especially when she worked at your damn school and had an entire greenhouse that for some reason you just kept around and left entirely abandoned? What is wrong with these magic schools?

So anyway, the girls go on a dumb field trip to Earth to find the diary, first to Alexandria in Egypt, and then to China… and then they go back to Alfea. Okay, I thought this was gonna be more of a globetrotting thing, but whatever. A lot of this season involves random adventures to different places across Earth, which… why? Again, a weird mix of Earth and the Magical Universe when most people probably just wanna see more of the Magical Universe.

Especially with magic having returned to Earth, not seeing that explored makes season 4 feel so hollow. Sure, all humans can see pixies now, but that’s about where it ends. We don’t see Earthlings developing magic aside from Selina (who had her magic pre-season 4, which… we’ll tear that apart later), we don’t see how this is affecting the people of Earth overall. We just use Earth as an easy place to plop the Winx for pointless misadventures.

Then once we get back to Alfea, season 6 actually gets slightly interesting with more character-motivated storylines, but that quickly screeches to a halt once we reach the end of episode 14. 14 ends with a random Mother’s Day party which… okay then? The only highlight is Musa’s little moment of remembering her mother, oh my god my girl needs a hug.

But 15 through 18 follow the Winx visiting Calavera Island and Fearwood Forest, fictional locales set in… well, they don’t actually say where Calavera is meant to be, but Fearwood is set in Canada. Anyhow, this bunch of episodes follows the Winx trying to find fantastical artifacts that can be used to forge the Legendarium Key, which can be used to permanently lock the Legendarium. Why would Acheron create a book which could be locked in the first place? I don’t fucking care.

But the girls get a hold of the Fantasy Emerald and the Silver Spear, two items which hold no significance in the story whatsoever, and the latter which only exists for about 20 seconds before the combine to create the Legendarium Key. After this, the Trix turn Cloudtower invisible again to make sure you remember that time it turned invisible back in season 3, and also to stall for time for the girls can fuck around the Magical Universe aimlessly until the finale.

I covered how frustrating the last stretch of season 6 is, along with how much the finale makes me wanna defenestrate myself, in my video ranking the series’ finales (again, link in the cards, please and thank you). So I won’t go much into that here. But suffice to say, season 6 can’t be bothered to come up with a compelling plot rooted in character motivations. Instead, the show relies on these pointless macguffin hunts and miscellaneous stumbling to pad out the 26 episodes, and as such, comes across as a shallow, mind-numbing experience. The pacing is honestly at its best in those middle episodes from 10 to 14, and the rest… ugh.

Though I suppose we don’t have to rush to stop the villains, given the villains themselves are terrible at their job.

INCOMPETENT VILLAINS:

At this point, someone needs to show the Trix the door, cuz they have outstayed their welcome. These three can only try to take over the Magical Universe so many times before everyone is bored to sleep. The only change this season, aside from the admittedly impressive glo-up, is that this time, the Trix are in charge. Or rather, they think they’re in charge. They conquer Cloudtower (yet again, and far too easily), then go on a rampage conquering other magic colleges across the worlds.

Now, this idea is fine enough, especially given it means getting to see more of the Magical Universe. But there are several issues, namely the fact that the kingdoms do literally nothing to stop the Trix. Just last season, the rulers of the kingdoms were meeting to discuss how to stop Tritannus, but none of them do the same for the Trix?

But my main issue comes in the fact the Trix are still complete buffoons with no clue what they’re doing. They come across less like the tyrants who conquered all of Magix back in season 1, and more like annoying mean girls who subtweet you. It would’ve been interesting to see their motivations aside from wanting power. Surely they must be exhausted at this point, having been defeated so many times and just wanting to spite the Winx at this point. But nah. They’re the same one-dimensional villains they were from last season, if not more so.

Selina is far more interesting, but even she is a waste of potential. She has little to no presence for most of the season, hardly ever encountering the Winx and having a shallow conflict with Bloom, and an even shallower motivation. All it really boils down to is Acheron promised her power, and she was like, “Cool!” “Eldora was lame!” Thanks, I hate it.

Like, why not have Selina be envious of Bloom or something, and that’s why she wanted dark powers from Acheron? And how did she even have magic to begin with? Roxy was the last fairy on Earth; no other fairies were shown from the Tree of Life in season 4. Where does her magic come from? How did she evade the Black Circle? How in the hell did Eldora sense Selina’s magic as a child and wanna train her, but not Bloom, the FAIRY OF THE FUCKING DRAGON FLAME?!

Not to mention the fact that Selina was originally a fairy under Eldora, then became the Witch of Snakes while serving Acheron, only to go back to being a fairy by the end of season 6. I don’t understand this need to have witches all be evil. Surely at this point Griffin has proven that’s not how witches roll, and I doubt Cloudtower would’ve been allowed to resume operations if they literally taught you how to take over the universe. Why couldn’t Selina just be the inverse of Mirta? She originally studied to be a fairy, only to realize it wasn’t for her and she was much happier becoming a witch, with no malice attached to it?

I kinda have a whole backstory planned for Selina, and it was actually one of the first ideas I came up with in regards to a season 6 rewrite, but I’m gonna make you bitches wait for it. On the bright side, it should be more tolerable than having to put up with Acheron in canon. Oh my god, if Selina is a waste of potential, then Acheron is just a waste in general.

Again, my video ranking the villains covered why Acheron is the actual worst threat in the entire franchise, but to recap: I don’t care about him. He’s only present for about 10 - 15 minutes before he gets defeated by being sealed inside the dollar store Agador Box. No motivation, no personality, just a generic baddie who turns on Selina for giggles before being defeated in the most anticlimactic way imaginable.

Honestly, Rumpelstiltskin was a more engaging character than Acheron, which… wow. That’s sad, because I loathe Rumpel. Not only does his constant speaking in rhyme get graging very quickly, but his entire existence is literally just to give the writers a way to artificially raise the stakes by stealing the Legendarium Key. And like… what could he even want it for? He LIVES in the Legendarium World! I understand his goal is to collect treasures, but what value would this Key really have where he’s from?

And for the love of god, can we please stop making Diaspro into a villain? At this point, her role in the story keeps breaking the continuity? We still have that issue of how she was allowed to be an adviser, let alone liaison on Eraklyon last season when she was banished in Season 3 for, you know, working with Valtor to put a dark spell on their prince? And now here she’s still obsessed with Sky, and decides to go to Daphne’s coronation to try and kill Bloom. Which is… a disturbing escalation. But also… who the hell invited her? They never say who let her in, nor whether she just forged an invitation and no one though tto alert Bloom and the others.

And then once she throws Bloom into the Vortex of Flames, Daphne attacks her, and Diaspro just… vanishes? Literally, she flies offscreen, Daphne goes, “Where did she go?!”, and then we never see her again. No one ever talks about her or acknowledges her existence. So… what? Ah well. I guess we’re just meant to assume she died, only to be resurrected by the soft reboot of season 8.

So the villains this season are trash, all around. Incompetent, boring, and underwhelming as all hell. Which especially stings, because usually if the main characters are annoying, at least you can have a bit of fun by choosing chaos and rooting for the villains. But I ain’t rootin’ for these idiots. But um, speaking of annoying main characters…

BAD CHARACTER WRITING (The Winx, Pixies, Eldora):

This season is the worst when it comes to character writing for all of the Winx. And I sincerely mean that. In some way, every single one of them makes me wanna scream at some point while watching this season. Or rather, some of them make me wanna scream in how they act, while others are forced into pointless subplots that drag on and on, and feel like the equivalent of listening to nails on a chalkboard.

When people call Bloom a Mary Sue, I tend not to agree. The whole “Is a character a Mary Sue?” debate is a mess, so for quick reference I recommend Overly Sarcastic Production’s Trope Talks episode all about her. But to summarize, a Mary Sue is more than a poorly written female lead; to truly be a Mary Sue, the character actually needs to warp the characters, story, and world around herself, and any character is capable of this, not just female. To truly be a Sue, the character has to be the ONLY important thing in the universe, to which everything else is just a set piece.

Bloom is perhaps too idealized in the first few seasons, with no real faults aside from she can be a bit of a hothead sometimes (clearly by her publicly attacking Diaspro unprovoked in season 1 and then facing literally no consequences for it whatsoever). But she isn’t really made to be the most interesting part of the story. She’s the main character, yes, but that doesn’t stop the other Winx, and plenty of side characters, from getting their time in the spotlight.

Season 4 really ramped up this idealized version of Bloom that just didn’t feel like her old hotheaded self anymore, and it only got worse with time. Season 6 Bloom warps the plot around herself to be at the center of everything. Most of the time this season, she’s the one who hogs the spotlight, who gets all the attention from villains and supporting characters alike, and who gets all the important moments.

The closest she gets to being her old self is her reaction to nearly poisoning Flora, but even then, it’s treated like a mistake she made that she needs some alone time to deal with, instead of, you know, an incredibly traumatic experience that would probably follow her the rest of the season. So I would say she is… poorly written. She is boring, she is too perfect… but she still ain’t a Sue. There are other stupid things in this stupid season the writers expect you to also care about, so by definition, Bloom ain’t a Sue. She’s just a bad character.

Stella, meanwhile, seems to have suffered from long-lasting effects from that dumb age changer subplot from season 5. There’s this whole subplot with her running a secret boutique in her upstairs closet at Alfea, because last season she was so keen on being a fashion designer. Which, cool, it’s a nice way to explain all the new outfits the girls keep getting, but the segments of showing off these designs often take up so much time, with pointless gags that go on way too long.

There’s also those frustrating episodes that take place on Solaria, which I reference in my video on the couples of the franchise (link in the cards, please & thank you), where for some reason, the girls decide the Solarian royal library will probably have answers they need, but they need an excuse to use it. You’d think Stella would be a good enough way in, let alone the fact that this is to stop the Trix from destroying the entire universe which like ALL the kingdoms should be onboard with, especially after last season with the Sovereigns’ Council?

But no, Stella needs to partake in an ancient tradition where she becomes queen for a day, and discovers being a queen isn’t fun. Like oh no, who knew ruling an entire planet wasn’t a #girlboss vibe? But it’s okay, because the girl boss mirror shows up later courtesy of the Legendarium to make sure we drag this story out for as long as we can. Don’t even get me started on the awful labyrinth moment where somehow Solaria connected to Ancient Greece and the minotaur, and Stella’s fear of not being able to escape when she could just teleport out. Like Eldora literally does. Ugh.

Flora’s fine for the most part, save for a minor squabble with Helia being bad at taking care of plants. Again, I talk about it in the couples video, which is a thing I’m gonna say a few more times I just realized, but it’s not the worst thing ever. It’s very shallow, and in a season with nothing else to grab onto, it feels worse than it actually is. Though I do like the idea of Flora asserting herself and kicking Icy’s ass.

Musa’s technically fine too save for the obligatory Riven nonsense, and Aisha’s got a weird love triangle with Roy and Nex going on, which… why? That’s actually something I’m just realizing now, where most of the girls’ subplots revolve primarily or only around romance this season. Which, when those romances are so poorly handled… doesn’t end well.

Tecna really has nothing to do this season, though. The episode where we finally meet her parents is cute, yes, but it feels more like a time waster than anything else given the gravity of the situation. And there’s also the fact that Frankenstein’s monster… falls in love with her because she shoots lightning at him? Which… okay then. Weird choice, but alright. Doesn’t really do anything for anyone’s characters, but whatever.

Roxy still gets pushed to the side. Weirdly, she gets a bit more to do this season than last season, like trying to help Griffin turn back to normal, and also helping out with the Music Cafe band. But other than that, it’s like she never even existed. The Winx actually wind up looking younger than her thanks to their uniforms too, so… great.

I remember discourse from back when season 6 was coming out that the writers were trying to see if they could handle having seven Winx, and they used Daphne as a sort of guinea pig, which is why she sometimes tags along with the main group. And honestly… I don’t mind Daphne’s inclusion. She’s kinda the only character I really care about when I watch, mostly cuz she’s been through so much nonsense that even though her being brought back from the dead is stupid - I mean, being made corporeal again - I can’t help but root for her.

And admittedly, her romance with Thoren is kinda cute. Yes, it’s stupid that Thoren is Sky’s cousin and we’re only just hearing of him now - “Dude, you have a cousin?!” But to me, they do actually organically form a bond that blossoms into a relationship. But getting married at the end of the season? Yeah um… no. Elsa ain’t havin’ any of this. Season 7 Thoren shows up. “Wow! You CAN marry a man you just met!” They’re still better than any of the other couples this season save for Tecna and Timmy though, so… what the hell do I know?

And… the pixies. Oh god. We’ll get to this in a little while, but season 6 really tried to bank on nostalgia, and part of this involved bringing back the pixies. Except the writer seem to have forgotten why people loved the pixies back in season 2. You see, each Winx had her own pixie, and not only were they all different in power and personality, but each pixie specifically complemented her bonded fairy. Either they were total opposites in personality, or their personalities were different enough to complement each other.

Take Flora and Chatta, for example. Flora was incredibly shy and soft spoken back in season 2, while Chatta, the Pixie of Gossip, was naturally outspoken and energetic. For most of season 2, Flora fell in love with Helia, but was too afraid of rejection to admit it, and it was Chatta who got her to break outta her shell and speak her feelings aloud, which resulted in one of the best couples finally getting together.

Those kinds of dynamics are missing from season 6. The pixies now are all the same positive-thinking, personality-less hive mind. And when one of the pixies does show a bit more personality, it’s usually incredibly flanderized to the point she becomes a caricature of her former self. Well, the “former” only applies to 4 of our 6 pixies, because for some reason, we decided to replace Tune with Cherie, and Digit with Caramel, a.k.a. Cara.

Why was this choice made? I still have no clue. Some say it’s to tie the show more into the spin-off Pop Pixie that like five people watched, and others said it’s because in Pop Pixie, they decided to genderbend Digit into a male, because that show introduced a bunch of male pixies. My issue, aside from the fact it makes no sense, is that Tune from what I can see wasn’t genderbent, so… why was she also replaced?

No shade to Cara and especially Cherie, they’re cool, but maybe if one of your major goals is to nostalgia bait older fans for the franchise’s 10th anniversary, don’t replace two fan favorites without explanation and expect it to go over well. Also, the Winx promised back in season 4 to bring the new Earth fairy they found back to bond with one of the pixies. 4 seasons later, and not only does Roxy still not have a bonded pixie, but she also just doesn’t exist anymore. Wonderful.

And finally: Eldora. Words cannot describe how much I loathe this character. There’s nothing wrong with the idea of a fairy godmother, but she plays no real role in the story. She doesn’t help Selina come to her senses and redeem herself, nor does she really help the Winx in their missions despite having the seventh Ancestral Wand. Instead, she just pops in and out to give random bits of advice and plot-relevant information whenever the writers think the viewers have forgotten. Oh, and also for more bad comedy.

AWFUL TRANSFORMATIONS:

Every season of Winx Club introduces at least one new transformation. In a magical girl series, adding new transformations can help to keep things fresh, both story and especially design wise. Season 5 actually took an interesting approach in focusing not on the new forms being stronger, but being better at a specific goal, in that case for use underwater. It suggested that going forward, transformations would be specialized to different scenarios. Season 6 took that idea, and set it on fire.

The Winx continue using Sirenix solely because it’s the latest form they got, despite the fact that aside from episode 1, they’re never in underwater environments. Season 8 was actually a pleasant surprise given it tried to introduce the idea of using different forms for different scenarios, and though season 6 technically does this with Bloomix and Mythix later on, the fact Sirenix is still here aggravates me.

But that’s not the real problem. No, the problems begin with Bloomix, the biggest waste of a transformation in the entire show. Bloom-centric name aside, Bloomix is a power born from the Dragon Flame. When the rest of the Winx get their powers stolen by the Legendarium (which… how?), Bloom shares sparks of her Dragon Flame with them which then allow them to earn Bloomix through… “brave and noble actions worthy of a fairy.”

I break down these problems in my old video Ranking the Winx Transformations, but to recap, having these six girls earn the new form within 3 episodes—with 4 of the girls earning them all in the same terribly-paced episode, and 4 of them earning it in pairs—doesn’t give the form time to shine like Enchantix, which was earned across 11 episodes of season 3, with each girl earning it on her own. And when earning Bloomix includes saving your kid sister for the seventeenth time, having a shallow fight and then making up 5 minutes later, and… backflips? Yeah, thanks, I hate it.

It especially sucks because the girls are continually weakened to keep them from crushing the Legendarium monsters. Because let’s be real, at this point, the Winx should be able to crush virtually any enemy thrown their way in 5 seconds flat. And when the girls all wield the inextinguishable Dragon Flame, the very magic that created the Magical Universe, and then they get their asses handed to them regularly? Doesn't say much about that godly power, does it? Let alone the fact they got beaten by a damn bird in season 7, but… whatever. I’M LOSING TO A BIRD.

This is also a crime because Bloomix, aesthetically, is the best designed transformation. That’s right, I said it. It’s better than Enchantix, at least to me. Burn me, as the flames feed me.

And then Mythix is… kill me. This is the worst transformation of the franchise, bar none. Again, reasons why in that Ranking video, but what could’ve been an interesting change of pace in terms of transformations wound up feeling like an arbitrary way of having two forms to double doll sales, along with added wands for merchandising.

But neither form adds anything to the story. Charmix and Enchantix showed the girls growing up, reflecting on themselves and their flaws, and being willing to sacrifice themselves to protect others. Believix reflected season 4’s theme of bringing magic back to Earth, and in a way, believing in yourself and the good in the world. And Harmonix and Sirenix at least fit the oceanic theme of season 5. Bloomix and Mythix don’t add anything to the characters’ journeys of the plot. Mostly because there’s no plot to add to, but hey, what can ya do?

The spells, likewise, are abysmal. I hate this rule that every form has to come with a set of new spells, because not only does it mean like older spell catalogs get trashed (F in the chat for Harmonix’s spells), but it also means the creators are constantly trying to come up with new spells and half-assing them. Most of the time they’re just differently named, slightly differently colored beams and shields. The only spells that actually warranted interest were Stella’s Total Eclipse, Flora’s Spring Shower, and Aisha’s Morphix Cloud. The rest are completely forgettable.

Musa specifically got screwed on spells. She only has two Bloomix spells, one of which is just her five-thousandth sound wave spell with a kinda cool name, and the other one, Crystal Voice, gets used only once. And no Mythix spells for her, no sir. Good god, just let her use Diapason and Reverberating Notes again, please.

And the songs are by far the weakest of the series. Season 6 marked a shift where Alessia Orlando began singing more of the series’ songs in place of Elisa Rosselli, and the newer songs had way more hands on them in terms of production. Bloomix’s song is almost offensive in how bland it is in lyrics, vocals, and instrumentation. I’m no music expert, so I can’t comment on the production too much, but these lyrics… “Play the game together”? No. I refuse. Mythix’s song is better, but still mediocre, the only truly good part being the vocals in the intro.

There are actually prototype versions of both songs sung by Elisa Rosselli which got released recently. I’ll link them in the description. I’m not too keen on the vocal effects in either song, but they’re most definitely superior to the official songs we got.

NOSTALGIA BAIT:

Season 6 was released in 2014, the 10th anniversary of the franchise. As such, Rainbow really tried to go all in on the nostalgia, hence the pixies’ return, and also all the Easter eggs they tried to throw in. From cameos of characters we know from previous seasons, to even visual references to the girls’ old hair styles, these references are all over season 6.

I’ve joked about Cloudtower turning invisible, but think about it. Why else would they have done it, aside from buying themselves time until the finale, aside from referencing Valtor turning Cloudtower invisible? Why else have that memory slideshow in the finale where they just have footage from this season instead of, I don’t know, every season up until this point?

And especially in episode 12, Bloom and Stella reminisce about winding up in the spot in the park where they met all the way back in season 1. Which yes, is adorable, but the fact they used footage from the one-hour specials instead of season 1 says everything. They want to superficially echo back to tug on your heart strings, without actually honoring everything that came before this season. If we wanted to honor the older seasons, we wouldn’t have committed to de-aging the Winx while pretending canon is still intact.

Bloomix is even the poor fairy’s Enchantix. It’s meant to be earned through “bold and noble acts,” similar to Enchantix’s sacrificial requirement, but far more shallow, and incredibly rushed. These are all attempts to parallel the older seasons without actually putting the work into using that to say something of merit.

CONCLUSION & OUTRO:

Season 6 is the worst season of Winx Club. Bad character writing, lazy plot construction, and shallow nostalgia bait that shows that the creators aren’t sure who this is meant for. Is it for new, younger audiences who would prefer a simpler, more upbeat story, or for older fans who’ve made it abundantly clear they just wanted more of season 4’s approach to the Winx maturing as adults?

As a result, it’s the season most fans can’t stand, and where the series officially made the turn for the worst. This unclear vision and lack of identity has persisted into the more recent season, World of Winx, and Fate: The Winx Saga, so it’s no wonder the franchise is a shadow of its former self.

Anyway, if you enjoyed this video and would like to see more content like this from me, then be sure to not only check out my other videos, but also to subscribe and ring that bell for notifications because YouTube hates creators. Also please consider, if you’re willing and able, pledging your support to myself and the channel over on Patreon.

I’m the Unicorn of War, and I would refuse to sit through season 6 ever again.